Clothes wringer



Sept.`3, 1.94.6. v A. P. BARcUs 2,406,788

CLOTHES WRINGER Filed Oct. l31, 1942 2 SheetS--Sheeb4 1 .for f f m1 E I i 1 Y A I l l v f L Q I I w .5 5 i f n 6 w 332 6 su i i I i x 357. ,l i J3' t ...g-a... .l

m l y j su f 4 i@ Sept 3 1946- A. P. BARcus l 2,406,788

CLOTHES WRINGER Filed Oct. 31; 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 S355 E mii w Patented Sept. 3, 1946 CLOTHES WRINGER Anthony P. Barons, Dayton, Ohio, assigner to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, `a corporation of Delaware Application October 31, 1942, Serial No. 464,947

6 Claims. (Cl. 68-255) This invention relates to ypower driven clothes i wringers.

It is common for thevwringers of washing machines to be provided with an index release which will allow the wringer to be positioned at selective angles around a vertical axis in alignment with the vertical drive shaft of the wringer. It has'v been necessary to instruct the operator of the wringer lto shift the driving control to the neutral lposition to disconnect the power from'the wringer mechanism before indexing. If the driv-, ing control is not shifted to the neutralposition, there is a great danger that during indexing the power driven wringer will rotate with its drive shaft and spin around the vertical axis and linjure the operator.

It is an object of my invention to provide a i power driven wringer with a simple practicaljin-I dex release mechanism which will simultaneously shift the driving control to the neutral position when the index latch is released.

In order toV provide added safety protection for powerV driven clothes wringers, the instinctive type of wringer has been developed in which a tug on the clothes will move the body of the wringer to release the pressure on thelrolls'.

'It-is another object 'of my invention to provide the vwringer and vwhich presents no resetting difficulty.v k

These objectsare'attained byproviding a power driven clothes wringer which is adjustable about the axis of Vits drive 4shaftwhen theindex latch is released. The ,index latch operates a vertical slidingLmember to .move the normal control `of the drivemechanism to the neutral or der-.clutched position. 'The bodyof the wringerjs made .movable Ywithrespectto its support. Thenormal Vcontrol mechanism is provided with vcam .surfaces which are .moved ,into engagement Awith .-a vprojection extending from-,this wringer support to-move thenormal control-to its `neutral position inwhich the .drive mechanism ,is disconnected 'from vthe power source.

Further fobjects :and .advantages 'of ithe 'present invention will be 7apparentfrom the following,Y de-l scriptionreferenee .being hadtof'the accompany- Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines 2-2 of Fig. V1; f

Fig. 3 ,is a sectional Vview taken along the lines 3-3 of Figfl;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken along the lines 4--4 of Fig.`1. l

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary viewfof the helical surface provided on the bevel pinions; and

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view through the bearing post 333.

Referring now moreparticularlyto Figs. lfto 5, thereis shown a simplified form of the'invention. In'this form, the usual supporting post 39| contains a drive shaft '3&3 connected to the upper shaft 305 by a fork socket and pin connection. The shaft 3515 is connected by a pin 3M to 'a double ended sleeve 399 which contains -atits upper and lowerends the blunt ended wound springs 3H' .and SIS. `Rotatablyimounted von the shaft 305 are 'the upper and lower bevel drive gears 3l5 and-:.311 which mesh lwith the crown gear 319. The crown gear '3 i9 connects through acoupling `321 with the roll shaft '323 of 4the lower wringer roll 324. YThe lower roll 3124 is supportedin bearings 322 sup-portedin the side Vstiles32tl. The'upperroll 424 is frictionally driven by the lower roll `32!! and is similarly supported. rThe beveledgears 'SI5 andf3|l are provided 'with long bearing sleeves cto provide `an adequate 'bearing surface 'upon fthe shaft 395. The :long bearing sleeves are preferably rigidly connected to 'the gears SI5 and 3H. "However, the arrangement is operative if :the sleeves `are either loose 'or rigidly connected to 'either the .gears or the shaft,

The beveled gears '3155 vand 3H are/each yprovided with a helical -face adjacent the wound spring. This helical face is provided with a `shoulder as is rbetter shown in Fig. 5. Surrounding ing idrawings, wherein a :preferred form 'of Tthe the sleeve 309 is a shifting collar 325 provided with an annular groove `327 receiving the eccentrically `located pin 329exten'din'gfrom the shaft member 331I `which 4is rotatablyfm'ounted in the bearing post 333 Iprovided'upon'one-side Aof the gear case 335; The shaft'memberBSl is'provided with a shaft '3310i reduced Yproportions for carrying the control Thandle 338. drilledtransversely ftoreceive the spring pressed pin 332 for engaging notches in "theinterior of theibearingposts 3?'3-as'shown in Fig. 6. By-this arrangement, the shaft 337 and the control 'handle 338 arexresiliently heldin either the forward, l

neutral, or 'reverse positions. Of course, 'this spring latching arrangement can be overcome by The Vshaft member '331 -is When the shaft 331 is moved in one direction of rotation, the pin 329 will lift the shifting collar 325 which carries a sliding key 339 upwardly into the path of the adjacent blunt end of the wound spring clutch 3| i. This causes one blunt end of the wound spring to engage the shoulder provided by reason of the helical surface on the face of the gear 3|5 while the other blunt end engages the key 339. This key rides in a slot provided for it in the sleeve 309 to provide a driving connection between the shaft 395 and the bevelV gear 3|5 which drives the crown gear 3|9 of the roll shaft 323. The wound spring 3| I in this case expands against the inner wall of the sleeve 303. The sleeve 309 is provided with apertures 34| to permit the escape of lubricant from the portion of the sleeve occupied by the wound springs so that a satisfactory grip will be provided between the wound spring and the sleeve 339. The key 339 is moved downwardly when the shaft 331 is moved in the opposite direction to engage the end of the wound spring to cause driving engagement between the shaft 305 and the gear 3|1 in a manner similar to that described for the wound spring 3| I provide rotation between the wringer and its support. This is done by providinga downward extension 335 of the gear case 335. This downward extension is in the form of a cylinder having its center line exactly in alignment withthe centers of the line of contact between the beveled gears 355 and 3|1 on the one hand and the crown gear 3|9 on the' other hand. This cylindrical extension 335 is rotatably mounted within the wringer support 341 which in turn is rotatably mounted upon the upper end of the supporting post 33| upon the axis of the drive shaft 393. The movement of the wringer with respect to the wringer support is limited by the screw 349 which extends through a rubber bushing within .the wall of the wringer support 341 and is locked'in the cylindrical extension 345. This allows Ya limited amount of movement of the wringer with respect to the wringer support 341 opposed by the elastic force of the rubber which will tend to keep the wringer in a normal position with respect to its support 341. Inasmuch as the center of the cylindrical extension 345 is in exact alignment with the centers of the line'of contact between the gears above there will be no rotating reaction due to the transmission of the force'by the gears because of this relationship. l

To make it possible for the wringer drive to be stopped and particularly to throw theidrive mechanism and the shifting collar 325 to the neutral position in an emergency, Ihave provided an extension 355 of the Vwringer support 341 to which is bolted a vertical plate 351' which in turn is provided with an aperture. The portion :of the vertical member 351 surrounding this aperture is provided with an upper set of humps 359 and a lower set of humps 36|. The shaft member 33| is provided with an upper projection 363 and a lower projection 365. When the shaft 331 is movedby its operating knob or lever 338, a distance of about to place the driving mechanism into engagement with the shaft 305 to drive the wringer rolls in either direction, the projections 333 and 335 will be just out of contact with the humps 359 and 36| as shown by the dot and dash line in Fig. 3. Any movement vof the right end of the wringer such as-would be caused by tugging upon the clothes being fed into the rolls or by pushing upon any' portion of the wringer will cause one of the humpsl to en 4 gage either of the projections 363 or 355 to move the shaft 33| and the collar 325 to the neutral position which will stop the driving of the wringer rolls.

An index mechanism with an interlock is also provided. For this purpose, the supporting post is provided with a flange 31| containing apertures. These apertures are of suitable size to receive the index latching pin 313, This latching `pin is slidably mounted in the wringer support and pressed downwardly by the compression spring 315. An index release lever 311 is provided for raising the index latching pin 313. The outer end of this index release lever 31".' is provided with a knob 319 and also extends through an aperture in the lower end of a vertical sliding member 38| having slots 333 and 335 which allows the meinber 38| to move vertically. The upper end of the member 38| is bent 180 and provided with a pair of humps 381.

The shaftl 33| is provided with a set of horizontal projections 389, one of which will be moved just out of contact with one of the humps 381 when the handle shaft 331 is moved 30 in either direction from the neutral position to cause operation of the wringer. The movement of the projection 339 inv one direction 30 is illustrated by the dot and dash lines in Fig. 11. When the index release knob 313 is pushed downwardly, the Vertical sliding member 35| will be lowered, causing the engagement of one of the humps 381 with the nearest projection 389 to move the shaft 33| and the shifting collar 325 to the neutral position to declutch the driving mechanism from the shaft 335. At the same time the index release lever 311 will raise the index latching pin 313 to allow the wringer to be turned upon the supporting post 30|.

Thus, in this instinctive type of wringer, I have provided a simple'control which will declutch the drive mechanism upon any indexing or whenever the wringer is moved by a tug on the clothes passing through the rolls or by pushing or pulling upon the wringer.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within theA scope of the claims which follow. Y Y

What is claimed is as follows:

l l. A wringer including a frame, rolls mounted in the frame, a bevel gear driving mechanism for the rolls having an operative position for operating the rolls and an inoperative position for rendering the rolls inoperative, said drive mechanism including a substantially vertical drive shaft, a pivotal support for said frame including a pivotal connection providing a substantially vertical pivot eccentric to said drive shaft having its axis located substantially in alignment with a point of contact of the bevel gears of the driving mechanism for pivotally mounting the entire frame and the driving mechanism, and means responsive to the pivoting of said frame and driving mechanism upon said eccentric vertical pivot for moving the driving mechanism from operative to inoperative position.

2. A wringer including a frame, rolls mounted in the frame, a drivingmechanism for the rolls having an operative position for operating the rolls and an inoperative position for Vrendering the rolls inoperative, said drive mechanism including a substantially vertical drive shaft, a pivotal support for said frame including a pivotal connection providing a substantially vertical pivot. eccentric to said drive shaft for pivotally mounting the entire frame and the driving mechanism, and means located on the opposite side of said vertical shaft from said vertical pivot and responsive to the bodily movement of the diving mechanism with respect to said support for moving the driving mechanism from the operative to the inoperative position.

3. A Wringer including a frame, rolls mounted in the frame, driving mechanism for'the rolls including a gear case xed to said frame, said gear case being provided with reversing gearing having forward, reverse and neutral non-driving inoperative positions, a control device carried by the gear case for moving said reversing gearing selectively into said positions, a support beneath said frame and gear case, said gear case being mounted for movement relative to said support, said support being provided with a fixed projection extending upwardly into the path of movement of said control device, said control device being provided with means cooperating with s aid fixed projection effective upon a predetermined movement of the case and frame With respect to said support for moving the device from one of the operating positions to the inoperative position.

4. A wringer includinga frame, rolls mounted in the frame, driving mechanism for the rolls including a gear case fixed to said frame, said gear case being provided with reversing gearing having forward, reverse and neutral non-driving insaid gear case is moved relative to its support for moving the operating means and shaft and said control device from one of its operating positions to its neutral inoperativeposition.

5. A wringer including a frame, rolls mounted in the frame, driving mechanism for the rolls including a gear case fixed to said frame, said gear case being provided with reversing gearing having forward, reverse and neutral non-driving inoperative positions, a control device carried by the gear case for moving said reversing gearing selectively into said positions, a support beneath said frame and gear case, said gear case being mounted for movement relative to said support, said control device including an operating shaft protruding from said gear case and having an operating handle thereon for moving the control device into any of its positions, said control device having an operating means thereon, said support being provided with a fixed projection extending into the path of movement taken by the operating means when said gear case is moved relative to the support for engaging and moving the operating means and the control device from one of its operating positions to its neutral inoperative position.

6. A swinging wringer having a frame, rolls mounted in the frame, a gear case connected to the frame containing reversing gearing for driving the rolls, a control device including a rotatable operating shaft parallel to the axes of the rolls protruding from the side of said gear case, a swing lock including a swing lock releasing member, a handle on said shaft for normally operating said control device, to forward, reverse and neutral positions, and means located at the side of said gear case operatively connecting said releasing member and said protruding portion of Y said shaft for rotating said shaft to the neutral position upon operation of the releasing member.

ANTHONY P. BARCUS. 

